Yngwie

This, along with 2 home fixtures over the festive period, is good news for gate receipts.

Followed by a trip to Tannadice the following week, a Sunday fixture.

Well, look at it this way. Since 1966 when England fluked it with home advantage and a shocking decision, they've won FA whilst the WC and Euro winners have included: France Spain Germany Italy (who we all acknowledge as good teams, but why should they fare any better than England, who have had the strongest league over the last 20 years and many superb players?) But also: Czech Netherlands Denmark Greece England haven't even reached a final in all that time, despite qualifying for the vast majority of tournaments. I would also add that recent World Cup semi-finalists since England last got that far in 1990 include: Sweden Croatia Turkey S Korea Bulgaria Since Spain broke their duck a couple of years ago, there is surely no major footballing nation to have achieved so little.

With all the teams now having played, this World Cup is shaping up to memorable only for the vuvuzelas. Matches seem to be lacking in entertainment, and most of the fancied teams are looking quite average. The only plus side of the mediocrity is that the outcomes of games and of the tournament as a whole are very unpredictable. It's also fair to say that England will never get a better chance to end the decades of spectacular underachievement, with an easy group (even if they make a bit of a meal of it) and as straightforward a route to the semi finals as a team could realistically hope for.

"Cancelled due to mix up of arrangements at Crewe" I'd like to know what happened there.

Well at least there's one less pundit for us to worry about. Ticket tout I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few more pundits bricking it at the moment. I'd also be interested to know if the BBC are equally generous in awarding match tickets to the family and friends of employees.

I think this is quite a neat fixture list, allowing you to view by date, team, group or stadium. Fixture List

New York Post

Me neither. Perhaps he's one of the many journos who got sent to research the problem of HIV+ prostitutes.

Anyone who read the Brazil names thread! What you can also do is click on someones name, view their profile, an in the "options" drop down menu on the left there's one called "Member's display name history" where you can see if they've ever been called something else.

Much as I'd love to see a full house and flares, I'm pretty sure we won't be seeing either.

Good to see your sense of humour bypass was a complete success. Mantardo, to avoid further misunderstandings please use [banter] tags along with a full expanation of any play on words you wish to employ in future, thanks.

Scotwatch Ghana had a player called Annan, and he was certainly Athletic.

We're getting really desperate with that one! A more pertinent one is that USA and Bolton's "Texas" Holden is Scottish, born in Aberdeen.

And Scotland have just beaten Argentina! (OK that was rugby, but hey, a win's a win.)

"England drew their opening match in 1966"

It's all in Chinese. :( :D That's a very ignorant comment. It's obviously in German.

Scotwatch In a desperate attempt to find Scottish points of interest seeing as we're not there : - Scottish flag in this evening's game in Cape Town - Advertising hoardings for a Scottish company, Aggreko. It's just like being there. :(

I hope he'll be more decisive when it comes to tackling.

We don't officially get promoted until Partick lose all their appeals. That's how it works, isn't it?

You can't have a World Cup without at least 1 token Scot. I don't think we even have any match officials this time. On the world stage, Chic is the face of Scotland. :)

Done!

I think they played together once for Scotland. It was Sharp's debut and turned out to be Gray's last cap. The game is one I remember well as it was live on TV, a nerve wracking late 1-0 win in Iceland in a must-win WCQ tie in 1985.

That's the club that Michael Stewart and Billy Mehmet have signed for. Looks like they've targeted Scotland for players. How many Scottish players have been happy and successful in Europe since the likes of Lambert, Collins and Brewster about 10 years ago?

I suspect this is just a story to cover up some jetpack related high jinks. Probably got injured playing Quidditch with Jim Leishman.